Texas Coordinating Board Approves RELLIS Academic Alliance

BRYAN, Texas — The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board today approved the establishment of The Texas A&M University System’s RELLIS Academic Alliance at the newly developed RELLIS Campus in Bryan.

The approval designates the campus as a University System Center at which multiple institutions within The Texas A&M University System and Blinn College will collaboratively offer selective degree and certificate programs. This paves the way for an innovative education concept, allowing students to obtain bachelor’s degrees from Texas A&M System’s 10 regional universities from around the state without leaving the Bryan campus. A variety of workforce certificate and training programs will also be offered from A&M System agencies and Blinn College.

“The future of Texas is tied to education. A new approach to educating the population is needed, and the collaborative RELLIS Academic Alliance is leading the way in that effort,” said John Sharp, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System.

Plans for the RELLIS Academic Alliance includes an 112,460 square-foot facility to be built in two phases with construction expected to begin in March 2018. Once completed, the complex will accommodate 2,500 upper-division students.

A Blinn College education building, where students will complete the first two years of college and earn an associates degree, is expected to open in August 2018. The first class of students accepted at the RELLIS Academic Alliance will attend classes this fall at the new Blinn College building until the System completes construction of its own building.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges still must approve individual programs offered at RELLIS by the Texas A&M System universities

Founded in 2016, the RELLIS Campus is an initiative of The Texas A&M University System. Located in Bryan, TX, the RELLIS Campus serves as an ecosystem that fosters cutting-edge research, technology development, higher education and workforce training. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), along with academic, corporate and private partners, conduct valuable research for world-changing technologies, processes and products with state-of- the-art research laboratories, testing and proving grounds. At the RELLIS campus, post-secondary degree education and training are offered with programs through Blinn College, multiple universities within the Texas A&M System and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX).